Starting Over Again
by angelsbabe315
Summary: Originally called “Life Is What You Make It.” Buffy is thrown a curve ball when she is forced to move her whole Slayer Army out of Rome. She and Angel move first to help their contractor build up the new home and school. A knew Big Bad comes along to make
1. Bad News, Buffy

**Title**: Starting Over, Again

**Disclaimer**: Okay, I think everyone knows by now that neither I nor anyone else who write a BtVS/Angel fanfic owns these characters! They belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy…blah, Blah, BLAH! I'm sorry to sound sour, but I wish I did own this, but I would never be clever enough to come up with such an AMAZING storyline!

**Summary**: Originally called "Life Is What You Make It." Buffy is thrown a curve ball when she is forced to move her whole Slayer Army out of Rome. She and Angel move first to help their contractor build up the new home and school. A knew Big Bad comes along to make hell for Buffy and Angel. What will come of Buffy's attempt to relocate?

**Rating:** T to M

**Author's** **Notes**: Well, I guess the way to explain this is that I started to write Season 8 fics, but due to mental deficiencies, I couldn't come up with ideas for between post "Chosen" and "Not Fade Away." So, we'll call this Buffy season 8. Now, I did write a fic before this one, but certain family members miss placed it on me so forgive me if some things don't make sense in this story. Now finally, I hope you enjoy it and please let me know what you think! Feedback really helps me a lot!

**Spoilers**: I can use anything from the TV shows and my other stories. Also, this includes the missing story. One major event you will be confused about that I've mentioned in the beginning is that I made Spike and Dawn a couple. Complain all you want, I just happened to see the chemistry between these two characters… We'll also have some closure from Angel Season 1 episode "I Will Remember You."

**Feedback**: I REALLY want people to respond because the only people who've read any parts of my stories aren't BtVS/AtS fans!!!!!

**Chapter 1**

"Oh no," mumbled the blond slayer. Buffy had hoped this day would not have come, especially right now. Everything was getting better in her life. Of course, now that Angel and Buffy found happiness, things were going to get screwy. Fate always seemed to work that way, especially when it came to the relationship of the Slayer, Buffy, and the vampire turned human, Angel.

The couple was out on the town that night, checking out the club scene. Even though it took some time, Buffy coaxed Angel onto the dance floor for some very upbeat, fast paced songs. They enjoyed a couple of drinks at the bar, a quick bite, and even a demon fight, where Angel found out that Buffy had found some very surprising places to keep weapons close by, but still concealed. After a quick make out session, the happy couple made their way home, planning on another romantic night in their bedroom, until they came to the front door. Nailed to the door was an eviction sign, indicating that they had thirty days to leave before they were sent to jail.

"This can't be happening," said a shocked slayer. Buffy ripped the sign off the door and stomped into the house, she was so furious. Buffy attempted to slam the door, but Angel caught it before it smacked him in the nose. All previous plans were forgotten.

Buffy strolled into the living area to see that Willow and Giles were still up. They both realized that something bad had happened. Buffy stormed into the living room holding a piece of paper that was then shredded by her. Angel walked in behind her, putting a hand on her shoulder. "It's okay. We'll find something, it'll be okay," he whispered comforting words into her ear.

Giles responded first. "Is e-everything alright?"

Buffy couldn't speak. She just went up to her bedroom, leaving the shredded pieces of paper on the floor, and leaving Angel dumbfounded. "What's going on?" asked the quizzical witch.

Angel replied, "That paper," he pointed to the pieces on the ground, "is an eviction notice. Apparently if we're not out of here in thirty days, we're going to be put in jail."

"Oh my God! That can't be," was Willow's response. Giles just rubbed the bridge of his nose. "How are we going to ship everyone out of here? Where are we going to go?"

"I don't know, but we better figure something out fast, or we will have major problems." Angel took up as leader. "Willow, can you check up on how real this eviction is. Giles, there is no need to worry the others until we know what is going to happen. Now, I've got a very upset slayer I need to converse with." Angel left the room with Willow researching and Giles was checking out large living places to possibly move into.

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Dawn had been in the kitchen having late night snack when she heard the adults talking. She heard Angel say, "Eviction notice." Dawn freaked out and ran upstairs to tell Spike.

"We need to do something to help, Spike!" Dawn exclaimed. "I am not in the mood to be moving again in my teenage life."

"But what can we do? Dawn, luv, there's nothing to be done. We'll just have to get over it and move." Spike paused. "Why are you so damn hesitant about moving to a new city?"

Dawn sighed, "I don't know, I just- I guess I really like Rome. It's new, it's different, it's trendy. I just didn't really expect to be leaving it so soon."

Spike just smiled at her. He knew how she felt. He had been to Rome many times, but no matter what the city threw at him, he always came back and felt welcome. "I guess I understand your feelings, pet." He held her face in his hands and lightly kissed her lips. The new couple fell back onto their bed.

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Angel walked into his and Buffy's master bedroom. He found Buffy asleep in bed with her formal clothes still on. He lightly chuckled at the sight of her. He locked the door and then went to tend to Buffy. _You must have been grumpy from exhaustion,_ Angel thought. First, he took off her pumps, then put light kisses on her fresh clean feet. He pulled out her pink silk nightgown. Then, Angel gently her dress and put the nightgown on her. Angel then tucked her under the blankets and placed a light kiss on her forehead, moving the stray light blond strands of hair out of her face. Angel unbuttoned his shirt and slid it off his back after taking his socks and shoes off. Turning off the light, Angel crawled into bed next to his beloved. He put his strong, muscled arms around her. She cuddled closer to his warm body.

"You know, you didn't even get past taking my shoes off before I was awake."

_Damn, now I'm figured out. She's becoming more sensitive to my touch. That's not fun._ Angel laughed, "I guess you caught me."

"Yeah." Buffy sounded unamused.

Angel sensed she was still upset. "Hey, just because we won't have this place much longer doesn't mean that we can't move to a better place. Personally, this room bugs me, it feels used."

Buffy cracked a smile. "Okay, you just earned yourself some major points. I don't know what we can do. There aren't many places that can house a group our size, especially seeing the new generation should be coming up soon. We have to be prepared."

"And we will be," Angel said confidently. "We just have to give it some time. I have an idea as to what we can do, but I'm not sure."

"Care to fill me in?"

"I don't know. I kind of want to surprise you."

"Oh come on, you can't do that to me." She slipped her hands around his neck and moved in for the kiss. Angel feverishly returned the need for it. Buffy had her hands stroking Angel's back and Angel's fingers were tangled in Buffy's long, golden threads. She broke the kiss, smiling coyly. "You know, didn't we have a long night planned for us?"

Angel returned the same smile. "I think we might have." _Okay, maybe not ALL forgotten._ They kissed again, Buffy lowering them closer to the bed.


	2. Where Do We Go From Here?

**Hi! So, how is everyone doing? I'm having a great day so far. Well, don't worry, I can tell you at the end of this. Anyways, I got some great reviews for this story so far. In answer to tanya2byour21's review, this is the 4****th**** story I my Buffy "series." Which, I've decided to call this series Buffy the Vampire Slayer (BtVS): Season 9. I know, I skipped a season, but that's because I'm leaving that to Joss Whedon and his comic series. It's just going to be tweaked differently from those stories. Anyways, the reason why December 30****th**** is a good day. Well, today is my birthday, so in honor of my birthday, the only present I want from my readers is more reviews. So please take your time to do that today. *smiles bashfully* Alright, on to Chapter 2 of ****Starting Over Again****.**

**Chapter 2**

Faith came downstairs. She had overheard a couple of girls talking, so she had to find out the truth. She found Giles and Willow asleep in the living room, so she moved on to the kitchen. She clearly heard typing. Faith smirked at the sight. "I thought you were suppose to be bad with technology?" Faith asked her sister slayer, hoping for a rhetorical answer.

Buffy looked up to see Faith stretched out in the doorway. Buffy fixed her robe to cover her exposed skin. She had a mug of coffee in one hand and the laptop up and running in front of her on the table. "Ha ha," Buffy replied dryly. "So, what's the real question, Faith?"

Faith laughed. Buffy was always good at sensing people by their moods. "Well, I heard some of the girls talking, so I need to know if some rumors are true."

Buffy asked, "And what rumors are those?" She was only partly paying attention as she was scrolling through whatever website she was looking at. Buffy took a sip of her coffee.

Faith slowly admitted, "Let's say a bunch of the potentials were talking about this place and an eviction notice."

Buffy spit out her coffee after almost choking on it. _I thought Angel said he didn't tell anyone else?_ Buffy thought to herself. "Oh really?" Buffy tried to sound like she had no clue what Faith was talking about. "Where did they get that idea?" _And the Oscar goes to…anyone, but Buffy._

"So it is true!" Faith yelled. "Why didn't you tell anyone?" Faith wasn't sure about this, but she liked Rome. It was fairly quiet and secluded, which most would think didn't appeal to Faith, but she also thought of the fiery side of this town. Rome managed to blend some of its classical culture blended with the modern ideas of the current world.

"Well," Buffy smiled shyly, "we only found out last night and I was completely wigging about it. I mean, where are we going to put everyone when we leave?" Buffy was still very nervous about what was going to happen after the expiration date comes.

"So, you were planning on telling us this morning," Faith stated.

"Actually, I didn't want everyone to panic yet, so I was going to relax from classes and things while the others and I continue to look for places."

"That's not fair, B. We could help out with packing seeing that we have to be gone in…" Faith didn't actually here the amount of time they had. "In how many days?"

"We are to be off the premises in thirty days, and seeing that we have to be packed before shipping to whatever new location, we should be prepared to be out in about two weeks. I think I worked that out well?"

"TWO WEEKS!" Faith exclaimed. "Buffy-"

_Uh-oh, she used my name. This is bad._

"You should be glad we head about this. There's too much to do and not enough time," Faith simply said.

"Look, it's no big deal-"

"You got that right, now that I'm here," Faith beamed at Buffy.

"Huh? What does that have to do with anything?"

"I will start getting the girls to pack. Then, I can help you go searching for a new place. After all, divide and conquering would work better."

Buffy swallowed. She always got a little concerned when Faith was enthusiastic seeing that nothing good can happen when Faith tries to control desperate situations. "Um, that's wonderful, Faith," Buffy lightly spoke, "but-" She never finished her sentence when someone continued her sentence.

"We already found a couple of places that we think will work."

Buffy got up to greet him. Loudly she said, "Good morning, Honey." She went to kiss Angel's cheek, then whispered in his ear, "We do, huh?"

He nodded at her. "Oh really, where about?" Faith asked.

"Well, here's the best part about it. You, Buffy, and I are VERY familiar with the area."

Buffy stared at him, connecting the dots. Faith said, "We better not be returning to Sunnyhell, besides, there's nothing there, so we're not rebuilding."

"That's not it, Faith. We're going to Los Angeles," Buffy shook her head, sitting back in front of her computer.

"That's it. I was thinking about it. I'm alive, even more than before, I'm still the CEO of Wolfram & Hart, why not rebuild the company and turn it into a school."

Buffy knew she could fake her way through this part of the discussion. "Angel, I know we talked about this, but isn't that building trashed, because I remember jumping out the fifth story window so I didn't have a ceiling collapsing above my head."

"That's the greatest part." Buffy was glad to see him, but the grin on his face made her want to laugh. She took a breath to control the urge. "I talked to the CEO of Wolfram & Hart, Rome, Ilona Costa Bianchi. She told me that I was in charge of the international headquarters of Wolfram & Hart, and so I settled with her. She can have the title of being the CEO of the international headquarters if she had the company fund the school and she was surprisingly willing to do it."

"Wow, but where do we house the slayers? There isn't enough room for housing and teaching in that place."

"Another part of this is that she will pay for reconstruction and pay out the mortgage of a hotel a few blocks away. I happen to know for a fact it is very roomy, it's not far, and it is well preserved for an abandoned building."

Faith rung in. "The old hotel you were at." She turned to look at Buffy. "B, this idea is pretty ingenious. I think it could work. How did you think of it?"

Buffy stood up and walked over to Angel. She wrapped her arm around his waist to bring him closer and put her other hand on his cheek. She looked up into his eyes. "I have the most AMAZING boyfriend in the world that I would never trade for the best looking man in the world." Faith started cracking up.

"So, are you finally facing facts and telling me that I'm not good looking?"

"No, I'm just saying that there would be no difference if I traded or not, because I have him right here in my arms." She smiled at him, then drew his lips closer to her own.

Faith broke the moment. "Look, I'm glad you guys are happy, but can you have you loving couple moment in another room, or just completely stop?"

Buffy broke away. "We have a room. Go find another." Buffy and Angel kissed.

Dawn walked into the kitchen. "Hey, what's for breakfast?"

Buffy lightly pushed Angel away from her. "I know you're excited, but think of all the girls who live here."

Angel shook his head. He bent and whispered to her ear, "Do you feel better making me blush?"

"Actually yes. You look better with a little more color." Faith snickering could be heard all over the room. She couldn't control her laughter.

Dawn just looked around at the group unsure. "Um, did I walk in on some meeting I probably shouldn't have."

"Nope, just Angel and I appreciating each other."

"Talking about the eviction notice I'm sure." Buffy just stared at Dawn with her death stare. "What?' Dawn asked innocently.

"How did you know about the notice?"

"I-uh-" Dawn couldn't fake her sister out at this point of the morning. Lord knows, Buffy barely could.

"Dawn," Buffy said firmly.

"Okay, I overheard Angel talking about it with Willow and Giles. I told Spike and we told some of the others."

"So that's how it was spread." Buffy looked over to Angel.

"Wait, was it not suppose to be told?"

"Just a tad, Dawnie," Faith jumped in.

Angel spoke up, "Looks like she missed that part of the directions." He chuckled lightly, than put his arm around Buffy's waist.

Dawn said sheepishly, "I'm sorry; I thought everyone was going to find out this morning anyway."

"You know what," Buffy said, "it's okay. I was putting off telling the slayers because I wanted to make sure we had a plan but now it doesn't matter because I believe we have a few places now."

"Really? Where?"

"A little city called Los Angeles."

Dawn's jaw dropped. "I think she's speechless," suggested Faith.

"Oh my God! We're going home. I've missed LA so much!"

"Now she's excited." Buffy looked at her boyfriend and asked, "What would I do with out you?"

Angel responded, "I don't know, possibly go on with life with no purpose at all." Buffy playfully swatted him. "Come on, you know you won't be able to get rid of me. I'll always be with you."

"Thanks for that." She gave him a quick peck on the lips. "Well, now that we don't have any servants or workers, looks like we're it for breakfast. I vote that Angel cooks." He gave her the "thanks" look.

Faith raised her hand. "I second that!"

"Okay then, get to work, Mister." Angel moved to start making muffins. "Faith, can you work on toast and Dawn, can you go to the market and get a bunch of juice?"

"No problem," the two girls answered in unison and ran of to do their tasks.

Angel looked at Buffy. "So, what are you going to do, Your Highness?"

Buffy gave him the "knock it off" look, then grinned at him. "Well, I was thinking that I could help you with stuff, like if you say, 'Can I have some sugar?' I walk to you with this." She walked to him and lightly kissed him on the lips.

Chuckling during the kiss, Angel pulled away. "What if I accuse you of not giving me enough sugar or too much?"

"Then this is what I do. If it's not enough sugar," Buffy pulled Angel to her and kissed him with all the passion she could muster, "If it's too much, then this will happen." She kissed him, searching every crevice of his mouth with her tongue."

They both chuckled. "As much as I'm liking this idea, I think we need to get breakfast done."

Buffy pouted with her puppy dog face. She rolled her eyes and replied, "Okay." Angel kissed her hair and continued working on muffins.

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"No wonder why we don't have a lot of money. We are feeding a hotel full of hormonal teenage girls who all have extremely high metabolisms."

Angel laughed at Buffy's statement. _Why didn't she think of it before?_ "Well, should we announce our plans?" Angel whispered to her. She nodded and squeezed his hand.

Buffy stood up. "Excuse me, can I have everyone's attention for a moment, please?" The giant group of slayers quieted down and looked up. "Thank you. Now, I believe everyone has heard about the eviction, but for those who haven't, we found an eviction notice last night and we have to be out of this palazzo in thirty days." Nobody reacted, so that was easy for Buffy. "The good news is that we do already have a new place to relocate to." Everyone chatted in astonishment. Giles and Willow both gave the other surprised look. "Now everyone, please let me finish." Buffy politely waited for the chattering to stop. When it did, she continued. "Now, we should have everything packed in two weeks, so we can meet the deadline for this place and get out of here with no problems. So, first off, there will be no more classes until we are fully relocated with everything together. Secondly, I will be out of Rome for the duration of this month to get things set up. Lastly, I grew up around the new place we are moving to and I hope you all like the town as much as I do. So please applaud Angel for his dedication to help us relocate and also," everyone waited for it, "since I won't be on any of your flights to the new city, I would like to say, 'Welcome to Los Angeles; The City of Angels.'" Everyone gasped in excitement. LA was way different than what they were use to. Buffy sat back down and whispered to Angel, "You know, it really is the City of Angels." Angel and Buffy smiled and then they shared a kiss.


	3. Moving Ahead

**YAY! I got some reviews. Okay, so this is going to sound REALLY weird, but I managed to incorporate Extreme Makeover: Home Edition into this story. I know, random, but that's my job in life. LOL! Anyways, you'll find out more. Please keep reviewing.**

**Chapter 3**

Later that day, Buffy had changed into "working around the house" clothes. She wore regular blue jeans and a ripped old shirt she still had in her possession from her teenage years. She wasn't flattered about wearing tennis sneakers, but she did it anyways and a red bandana was holding her long, golden hair out of her face. She had decided to call an impromptu Scooby meeting to give them more information. "Alright, everyone; as I said Angel and I will be going ahead to supervise the move into Wolfram & Hart's headquarters." Saying that made her even more nervous. She trusted Angel's instincts, but she had an eerie feeling about the place. It was like Sunnydale High without the hellmouth. "So, I want you all to be incharge of subdivisions." She paused, planning what would be needed for the move. "The books need to be orderly and be able to be put back together for the average of mind, being me. I think the former librarian should be incharge of this with assistance from Xander and even Willow, but I have another job for you, Will. I need you to pack magical ingredients, amulets, and basically anything magical without anything causing a spell or explosion."

"Aye, aye, Captain," Willow saluted.

"Spike, your job is to gather our weapons supply and everything in the fitness center. Faith, you are to assist the slayers with all of their packing needs. Also, prearrange housing arrangements. I'm assuming that we will have enough room for two per room. Be prepared for that. If I might make a suggestion, put experienced slayer with less experienced slayers, so they can help each other. Dawn and Xander, both of you will work on gathering the first aid supplies and such. Also, if you see anything that should go with us, pack it, and bring it with you. We have a lot of work ahead of us and only two weeks to do it. Also Giles, another thing I need is for you to contact these girls' parents about our situation and what's happening."

"I will do that," Giles replied. "I was thinking that, for those who aren't technologically advanced, would like to know the where abouts of their children."

"Sure Giles, but you couldn't just say 'those without computers?'" Buffy teased in the style of Xander.

"Thank you for your modernized subtitles, but we should really carry on with this meeting," Giles said with annoyance.

"Yes. You see I won't know if anything big and/or bad appears, so keep in touch with that information. If I'm absolutely needed, I'll be back here before you knew it."

"I'm sure we'll be fine," Willow spoke up.

Faith jumped in, "Yeah B, we have a house full of slayers. We should be fine."

Buffy said, "Alright, if you say so, but the offer stands. I want to be sure everything is good."

Xander wanted to say something. "Our end is full of slayers. I'd be more worried about your end because you are the only slayer there."

"Xander, I'll be fine. It will be like the old days when I was the only one with _no_ friends to help. Besides, Angel will there and seeing that his super strength is existent, I have some back up." She looked at Angel for reassurance. She softly spoke, "That's all I should need."

"I've got a question." Everyone's attention turned to Dawn. "When are you guys going to leave?" She looked at them bluntly.

Angel chimed in. "We have to be there by tomorrow at noon for construction details."

"Do you have to rebuild the entire place or just fix it up?"

"Well, the Roman Wolfram & Hart CEO found us a tv show in trouble for its ratings. They build homes for people who have helped make the world a little better."

"No way, you are not going to turn our slayer school into a commercial building for a tv show," Giles grunted.

Buffy had some info on this show. "That's the thing. We originally didn't like the plan, but the CEO said that the object of the construction team is to build something in a week that could improve the good samaritan's way of life. This rewards them for all of their efforts towards the community."

Angel continued, "Technically, this show doesn't exist yet, so they want to test run it like their show to give to the production company in order to prove they can be back on tv and to improve the time it takes to build their structures. The deal is that they can test run it, but it will never be aired no matter how good or bad the episode would be for their ratings."

Giles was still not sure about this again. "What if the cameras accidentally catch something out of the ordinary like Buffy picking up a couple hundred pounds of a beam or something getting slayed?"

Buffy went on to explain, "Apparently the tv show host is well aware of the goings on. This…" she blanked out, "Ty Pendulum or Pendingson…"

"Pennington," Angel corrected.

"Right, Ty Pennington," Buffy said, "he has lost family to vampires, so he knows about everything having to do with our 'weirdness,' so he will edit anything strange out before being viewed to our general audiences."

Giles was impressed. His slayer seemed to have grown up before his eyes. He was not use to her being on top of details like this, although he believed part of that was from dating Angel. _Maybe her dating Angel wasn't so bad._ Not that he had a thing against Angel, but Buffy had a hard time coping when he left Sunnydale. Sure when he had become human, things had changed and no matter human or vampire, he always had her heart and vice versa.

"So, I guess this is all planned out," said Xander.

Buffy nodded. "Everyone has a job now, so that means I need to get my stuff in order and set to go. Anymore questions?" Nobody responded. "Good. We need to pack so you guys don't need to worry about packing for us while we're gone. Willow, can you help us?" The witch nodded. Everyone got up to leave.

Giles called out, "Buffy, may I have a word with you?"

"Sure." Buffy chatted to Willow and turned back to Giles. "What's up?" she asked almost in a whisper.

Giles guided her to sit down. "W-well, it seems-uh," Giles looked at her not sure what to say. "You are doing an incredible job managing this. I don't know what we would have done if there was another slayer in charge."

Buffy smiled at him. "Thanks Giles." They basked in the appreciated silence. Then Buffy rose from her seat. "I need to get packing." Giles nodded in reply and Buffy left the room.

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With Willow's help, they got their stuff packed and teleported to LA in no time. "Looks like that's everything," Willow spoke softly.

Buffy knew the sad look all too well. "Oh Will, I'll see you soon. It won't be that long."

"I know, it's just, what am I going to do for a month without my bestfriend?"

Buffy thought quickly with a smile on her face. Counting on her fingers, she said, "Let's see, you can give tons of orders, do lots of magic, and get on the phone when you're not busy or as you might want to do when you have some down time is, I don't know, SLEEP!" She paused. "Will, we've dealt with longer times apart."

"True, but we've gotten to become way closer since those times, plus boss problems always call for talks with the best friend."

Buffy laughed. "Okay, then call me or better yet, visit my mind every now and then I'll be more than likely to respond."

"I guess I will." The best friends hugged each other. "I really need to get my other jobs done. See you in a month." Buffy waved as her friend disappeared to say good bye to Angel.

"Hey Buffster," called out Xander.

Buffy replied, "Hey, yourself."

"You take care of yourself, and watch for demons or else I'll come out there and save your sorry ass."

"Ha ha, Xander, but I'm telling you, everything will be fine." She hugged him goodbye, the turned to find Spike. "What do you want?"

"I'm just here to say goodbye." Buffy noticed Dawn watching him, staring him down. He cringed at the feeling of her eyes on his back, like lasers probing his back. "What is it with the power of you Summers chics," he whispered to Buffy.

"We're pretty irresistible when it comes to orders. What did she ask you to do?"

Spike sighed, "She threatened me if I didn't tell you thanks."

"Thanks for what?"

"Giving your blessing, allowing our relationship."

Buffy rolled her eyes. "She of all people should know it doesn't matter if I approve. What does matter is love." Buffy smiled, but it quickly changed into a frown. "Wait, how did she threaten you to do this? It must have been pretty harsh."

Spike blushed. "She threatened _things_," Spike said to Buffy with a coy smile.

Buffy got the hint. "Don't suggest things like that. I really don't want to know what you do with my sister."

"Oh believe me, Slayer, you will probably find out in graphic detail," he taunted.

That comment really pissed her off, so she slapped him across the face with a lot of strength that it left a red welt. Buffy moved on to Faith. "So…"

"So…" was Faith's response. She looked around to see if anyone was paying attention, then she hugged her sister slayer. "We will miss you, B. Do take care. I need help with the younger generation."

Buffy smiled. "I promise to come back in one piece, or maybe missing one, but have all the important pieces," she joked. The girls let go of each other and then Giles came to visit her. "Any orders to take with me?

"Just be safe and don't do anything foolish," he told her.

Buffy laughed, "That's it." She composed herself. "I will do that Giles." They hugged and Buffy gave him a light peck on the cheek. He then left to say his farewells to Angel. Last was Dawn who brought ice out for Spike's welt. "Sorry about the going away gift, Spike." He mumbled something under his breath; some sounded like curses.

"You had no right to do that," Dawn declared.

"Sorry, it's just," Buffy paused, "he left some VERY mental pictures engraved in my brain."

Dawn nodded. "Okay, that makes sense and he did deserve that…" Dawn's frown changed to a smile, "Have a great trip. We'll see you soon."

"You are almost too happy to see me go."

"Well, the fact that you are always watching my back kind of bugs me."

"All I have to say is, I'm your sister and I'm the big cheese when it comes to slaying, so I have every right to watch out for." Buffy whispered to Dawn, "And watch out for Spike. Don't let anything bad happen while I'm gone."

Dawn hugged her sister. "Nothing will happen, I promise. I love you."

"I love you and PLEASE take care," Buffy begged and Dawn nodded.

Angel walked to Buffy and grasped her shoulder. "It's time to go." Buffy nodded and parted from her sister. Angel escorted Buffy out and off they went to Wolfram & Hart, Rome. From there, they would be leaving for LA.


	4. Flight and a Meeting

**There is a memory sequence in here, so the sign for that is **~*~*~*~*. **The plane scene seems kind of random, but that's okay. I felt like extra info, and it could be mentioned later in another story. *wink, wink* Alright, so please review! That's all I'll say for now.**

**Chapter 4**

Between leaving the Palazzo and getting on their flight, Buffy and Angel met the enthusiastic Roman CEO, Ilona Costa Bianchi, who, as usual, flirted with Angel non-stop. It was really irritating Buffy, but Angel kept holding her closer and closer to him. With the last details put together, Buffy and Angel boarded the jet to their new (or you could say old) home.

Buffy looked out the window. They were alone in it and lord knows there was enough room, but Buffy was in the mood to just cram herself into a small crevice for awhile. Angel brought over a couple of drinks. "Hey, I thought you might be a little dry. I've got water, juices, champagne, liquor, whatever you could want. What would you like?" Buffy didn't respond. Angel noticed the look in her eyes seemed distant and unknowing. "Come on, Honey, you need something in your system. Take something, for me please." She absentmindedly grabbed a water and opened it. "What's the matter, Sweetie," he asked as she took a swig.

"It's nothing really." Angel was going to respond, but she continued. "I just don't like this. First moving. Then, seeing that…" the name continued to slip Buffy's mind. _Why don't I remember?_ "CEO all over you. I'm just going insane." There it was, out in the open and off her chest.

"Were you jealous?" Angel teased.

Buffy grinned and faced him. "Hey, not only vampires get jealous."

Angel chuckled. "Well you know, you had nothing to worry about. I'd rather be dead than be caught with a rich snob like her."

Buffy wore a serious, hurt face. "You mean like I was once," she said too firm.

"No because as soon as you became the slayer, you changed. Not that I saw it, but I bet that the day she became CEO, she probably got worse. You are special. You changed for the best, while she changed for the worse."

She looked at him with bewilderment. "Back there, I was kidding, but what you said…" She paused to kiss him, "that's a very sweet thing you said to me. Also, you won that fight if it was real." She kissed him harder, but Angel broke it all too fast.

"I won't count this as an argument. It was more of a teasing test to see who the first one to become sensitive was."

"Okay, I can deal with that." They chuckled and then continued making out in the privacy of their jet.

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Buffy had fallen asleep on Angel's chest. She hadn't been getting a lot of sleep lately with their many evening activities. Angel couldn't really sleep. He never found plane rides comfortable, so he just watched the love of his life, stroking her hair. One of the flight attendants came in. "Excuse me, Sir. We will be landing in five minutes," she said.

"Thank you," Angel said, wrenched out of his current thoughts. He looked down at the blond girl in his arms and kissed her forehead. "Buffy?" he whispered. She didn't respond. He bent down and found her lips with his own. She responded by kissing back. They broke half a minute later. "Nice to see you with your eyes open," he teased.

"Sorry, I guess I kinda passed out on you, literally."

"We're about four minutes from landing."

"Oh wow! I guess jets are faster than I expected." She paused. "So, are you excited about returning to this bustling city?"

"I have to say, even though I'm more into a quiet, private life, I sort of miss the big city. I guess I liked the change to a loud, open, busy city."

"Wow, never thought that would happen."

"What about you?"

Buffy took a breath. "Honestly, I'm not sure. I mean, this is where my life as the slayer started. Not sure that would make it a good thing after all." She paused. "It was very lonely here. I always, throughout my life, knew I had many friends, and yet I always felt, deep in my heart, that I was truly alone during the varying stages of my life. I don't know if it's because of the effects of the spell to make Dawn's memories or if it's all me for real. I can't really explain it. It's just hard. No one was going to understand the changes I went through."

"What kind of changes?"

Buffy chuckled. "I guess it started as far back as I can remember. I was shy and temperamental, well okay the latter came back later, but then I became outgoing and just dealt with my temper. At one point, I became spoiled completely rotten, then I realized that other people could use my wants for their needs or it could cheer them up. Strange, I know, but most of these characteristics disappeared and reappeared throughout my life. I couldn't explain it, but it happened. Finally, the attitude changes ended around the time I was called. I had a feeling that these attitudes happened because of being pre-chosen, but anyways, I couldn't tell anyone my thoughts or they would have put me in a straight jacket." Buffy inhaled again. "I already know what it's like to feel crazy," she mumbled.

"Why is that?"

Buffy looked at their hands. She had a pained look on her face. "My friends know about this. When summer vacation started the year I was called, I was out late patrolling. I snuck in around three am one night and Mom was waiting for me. Of course, I had just finished fighting a group of vampires and looked completely trashed. Mom asked me to explain myself. So I decided to tell her the truth." Buffy's eyes started to water as she thought of that memory.

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Buffy stared at Joyce blankly. She should tell her. "Buffy, what were you doing?" Joyce demanded in a raised voice.

Buffy took a deep breath. Then, she brought her eyes up to look her mother in the face. "I was out fighting vampires."

Her mother stared at her blankly. "What did you just say?" hoping that she didn't hear the same answer.

"I was saving the world by fighting vampires."

"Alright, Honey," Joyce frowned skeptically. Knowing her daughter was normally not dangerous, but this idea Buffy had in here head was very scary and tremendously crazy. "Go to bed, Buffy."

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Buffy remembered feeling like she had lifted a weight from her shoulders. The tears started to fall. Buffy tried to speak, but her sound choked off. "I guess she told Dad what I said and the next day, I was put into a mental institution. They didn't believe me, and it hurt so much. Now that I think about it, that was the day where the real thoughts of divorce started." Buffy started to sob, remember the pain from those days. Angel pulled her to his chest and comforted her. He knew that he was the only one she could load that much stuff onto. He really felt bad that Buffy had experienced so much damage from her past. He knew she had felt guilty for her parent's divorce, he just never knew why, until now.

"We will be landing momentarily, so please buckle in," was announced over the speaker. Angel and Buffy were both firmly planted into their seats.

Buffy looked up with her tear soaked eyes. "I guess we're here." She gingerly wiped the tears away. Angel was worried about her, but he decided to let it alone.

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When Angel and Buffy gathered their luggage, the found a chauffer waiting for them as a luxury from the producers of the TV show. Buffy and Angel just sat in the back of the limo and both refused champagne. The person sitting in front of them was a producer on the show that was acting like he was evaluating them. He couldn't stop staring at the odd couple was. _That blond is so pretty. She could make it in show business._ He started to tilt his head looking up and down her like a piece of meat.

Buffy noticed this and was starting to get annoyed. _Great, another one of the male species._ Excuse me, Sir, will you tell us what we're doing today, or are you done drooling over me yet?"

He looked up suddenly. _Had I been that noticeable?_ The darker man glared at him. "Well, Mr. Angel-"

"It's just Angel," the other man growled.

"-Angel and Ms. Summers, first, we will be planning what you want your buildings-"

"Wait, BUILDINGSsss, as in plural? I thought we were only working on Wolfram & Hart," Buffy said.

"Same here. I wasn't informed that we were doing another building," agreed Angel.

"I am very well aware of that, but I wasn't suppose to tell you until later. Ty told all of the producers that your organization helps people, no girls only who have special abilities and you help to teach them how to control their abilities and then general teachings, am I correct?" Buffy nodded. _God, she is gorgeous._ Even when she got angry, he could tell that she was beautiful. "Since you have over a couple thousand people living with you, and apparently more should shortly come to move in. People should be comfy, so we decided to add more floors and rooms to it. We will make everything better for your plans. You will not have to worry about water and electricity. We can make it all work so you don't have to pay a penny."

Buffy smiled, "That will be so helpful. Thank you."

The car stopped and it was time to make plans. The chauffer opened the door. The man stepped out and held a hand for Buffy. She accepted it then he pulled her along. Angel got out, surprised that Buffy followed the producer. He followed closely behind them. Buffy was trying to run in high heels and her skirt was tight and didn't flow. "Mr. Lipson, why are we running?" Buffy asked getting quite annoyed.

"Just worried that we will be late. The meeting is starting at 12:30. Want to be on time." He was out of breath.

Buffy looked at her watch. "It's like 11:45."

_Perfect timing._ "We have to do something before we are in the meeting." Andrew Lipson led her into a room before Angel could catch up to them. After the door closed, Buffy pulled him off her.

"What the hell is your problem?" she asked, rubbing the red hand print on her wrist. "Mr. Lipson-"

"Please, call me Drew," he interrupted.

Buffy rolled her eyes. "Fine, Drew answer me!" she exclaimed. The door behind her locked and she went to open it. She kept pulling on it and it wouldn't budge. "What is this?" she asked in a growl.

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Angel walked down the hallway. Mr. Lipson had dragged her away, leaving Angel in the dust. He thought he caught the sight of something golden blond turning the corner. He quickly rounded the corner, but found nothing at the end of that hallway. He tried to follow her scent, but he couldn't find it, which was an extremely odd concept. _Are the vamp senses disappearing? No, they can't be, not now!_ "Buffy!" Angel called out. "Buffy!" To his left, he heard a scream that came from far off that sounded like Buffy. He ran for it.

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"I'm sorry, Buffy; I didn't mean to deceive you." Drew smirked to himself.

"What is this, some kind of sick joke?" Buffy accused. Her voice became concerned. "Why are you hiding?"

"Buffy, I have known you were The Slayer the whole time. When I met you, I realized how pretty you are." His voice turned sly. "I want to know the real you."

Buffy shuddered at the thought as she understood what he meant. She turned to the door and heard Angel's calls to her. "Angel, ANGEL!" she exclaimed. She was banging on the door trying to be heard, but Buffy heard his feet walk by the door. "Angel!"

"He can not hear you. He thinks you are farther down the hall, thanks to the magical acoustics in this place." Buffy darted towards him, then realized that her skirt was too tight for kicks. She kicked off her shoes, and then stared at the lining of her skirt, causing it to rip up to her hip. Then, she attacked. The man blocked her kick and threw her into a wall. Then Drew said, "I'm sorry you couldn't just accept this." He pulled his hands out and started chanting under his breath.

Buffy felt her limbs being pulled up. She tried to pull back, but she couldn't. She was pinned against the wall by her hands and feet. She barely touched the ground. Drew slowly floated towards her. "Let me go!" she exclaimed. Buffy kept trying to pull against the invisible bindings.

"I'm afraid I won't do that, Buffy." He touched her face. She flinched, but he held her chin. Then, he slowly ran his hand up and down her inner thigh, lightly playing with her panty line. He then grasped the top of her panties with his finger tips and slowly, but painfully pulled them off her. Drew continued to work on her shirt.

Buffy had to think of something, and FAST! She whispered something, "Unbind my body from this wall. Let me stop this guy and watch him fall." Buffy felt the restricting binds loosening, but she pinned against the wall by Drew's weight with him attacking her shirt, she just stayed against the wall, with every button coming undone. By the time her feet completely touched the ground, he was down to her bra, kissing, suckling, and nibbling he neck. She sent out a telepathic message to Angel, so he could pinpoint where she was. Finally, it was down to just her. Warlocks had one major weakness. Buffy remembered reading it; sharp, metal objects, but she needed to find one. "Mmm…" Buffy said, as a warm, fuzzy feeling rushed throughout her body.

"You are going to be the _best_ I've ever had, Slayer," Drew whispered into her ear.

Angel broke through the door. It distracted Drew long enough. Buffy punched him in the face, then sent him a snap kick in head. He went backwards into the wall. Buffy hurried to Angel's side. "Do have any sharp metal on you?" Angel noticed the look of her body, the rips in her clothes, her bare chest, the smell of saliva all over her. He knew another man had touched her, and neither of them liked it. "Angel!" Buffy exclaimed, worried that the warlock would be right up.

"Sorry," Angel said. He pulled out throwing stars and handed them to Buffy, which handed him an arched brow.

She took the weapons. "Hey, Drew!" She called as Drew started to rise. "Sorry it had to end this way." She threw the stars, one hitting him in the stomach, the other in the heart. The warlock screamed and combusted into nothing, but ash. Buffy mumbled, "Well, I never expected that to happen again so soon."

Angel rushed back to her side and placed his hand on her cheek. "Are you okay? Did he hurt you?" He put light kisses all over her face.

She nodded. "Yeah, just a little embarrassed."

"About what? You're not telling me you let him do that to you."

"Sort of at the end. Part of my plan until you busted in." She smiled at him.

"Hahaha," he said sarcastically. Both people thought _Who cares?_ Angel and Buffy attacked each other's lips, the kiss becoming passionate. The couple was prepared to go all the way, until somebody walked into the doorway.

"Good morning, Angel and Buffy!" exclaimed the man at the doorway, holding a megaphone. Buffy was embarrassed about her appearance, so she his behind Angel, so she could button up the blouse and jacket. She hated wearing suits, but she did that. Buffy finished getting her thong and shoes on, while the man at the door took out a pen and paper, jotted something down, and then smiled at them. "Hi guys, sorry for the interruption, but our meeting started, so we should get going."

Buffy mentally kicked herself. _Shit!_ "We're sorry," Buffy walked over to the man. "I didn't catch your name. I'm Buffy Summers and this is my boyfriend, Angel." They each shook the man's hand.

"Hi, I'm Ty Pennington, host of the show. "Nice to meet you," Angel stated. Ty waved his hand, a sign for them to follow.

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The three people talked on the way to the meeting. "I'm glad you decided to use us as one of you examples. It's very exciting," Buffy commented. "So, I heard that you know about what goes bump in the night."

"Oh, you mean vampires and demons, right?" Buffy nodded with wide eyes. Ty pulled something out from under his shirt. It was a black cross. "This was my father's apparently passed down for generations, along with stories of the slayers of each generation. This cross was given to one of my great, great, great so on and so forth grandma after her sister died. Apparently, that aunt was a slayer and died because of vampires. This information had been passed down and my family has kept the tradition up and I doubt it will stop with me."

"Wow, that's cool. So, do you still fight vampires, or have you been doing construction instead?" Buffy asked.

Ty looked away. "I've gotten out of slaying, especially now that we have been introducing the show. Maybe you guys can try to shape me up."

Angel answered, "I'm sure we can do that."

"Thanks," Ty smiled. The group turned left down the hallway, then right into an elevator. "How long have you been a slayer?"

"Don't you know everything? I'm the slayer who changed the ways of this natural system." He nodded. "I've been slaying for almost…" She went to the back of her mind. _Oh my God!_ "… almost ten years." She even sounded surprised.

"I'm assuming you are among the longest living slayers then."

"You kept up on the slayer facts then," Buffy complimented.

Ty nodded, "Yeah, I never have actually met an actual slayer though. My family has always crossed paths with a slayer, but I've been waiting for my turn."

"Glad I could help, although, you will be helping us a great deal more." By this time, the elevator reached to the foyer. "Wow, the damage in here is astonishing."

Ty stated, "I'm even surprised any of the electricity still works, let alone that it's still standing."

"I suspect I know why," Angel mumbled. He saw the crushed pillar from his fight with the liaison. "How easy will it be to replace this building?"

"That's why we're here to try. See if we can build these two buildings in two weeks." The group was at the meeting spot. "Here we are." He moved aside. "Guests first."

Angel turned to Buffy. "Guess that means you're up." Angel allowed Buffy to enter first, referring to old fashioned ways, then he followed her in. Ty coming in behind them last.

"Sorry that we're late," Ty announced. "Their flight was delayed. This group is our two designers and two architects for this show, and our main producer, Andrew Lipson. Everyone, this is Buffy and Angel. Buffy, Angel, these are our designers Michael and Tracy," he pointed to the girl in a lot of pink and one of the men. He was dressed up in a trendy sports coat. "And our architects, Paul and Preston."

"Nice to meet you all," Buffy stated. The group stared at her waiting for commands.

"You guys can sit down. Now, what do you need for this place to become a school?" Buffy and Angel sat down, both giving specific details for the Wolfram & Hart building. The only problem was the team didn't know why some items were needed.


	5. New Enemy In Town

**A/N: Sorry I haven't updated in forever, but I've been working the WHOLE summer, so please forgive me my wonderful readers. On the bright side, I have my very own computer so hopefully I can complete my stories now. Please review! I miss them very much and I hope to get some readers to return to see more of Buffy and Angel's adventures!**

**Chapter 5**

Angel and Buffy walked out the doors of the former law firm from hell hand in hand. Ty escorted them to their limousine. As the chauffer opened the door to the limo for Buffy and Angel, Ty asked, "So you guys are going to be staying in the Hyperion hotel. Is that right?"

Buffy simply nodded, while Angel responded, "Yes, we scheduled someone to transport all of our possessions to be there ahead of our arrival."

"Alright, I shall see you two tomorrow then. Have a good night."

"Thanks, Ty. You take care," Buffy offered while she slid into the limo, Angel holding her hand in an old fashioned manner. Once she was all the way in the limo, Angel joined her onto the seat, closing the door behind him. They felt the vehicle start to move as the engine roared to life. Angel then focused his attentions to Buffy. "So, are you hungry?"

Buffy's lips were shaped to say 'no' when her stomach growled obnoxiously loud. "Does that answer your question?" she asked meekly.

Angel held back a laugh. "Guess your tanks emptier than your engine realizes." She merely rolled her eyes in response. "I figured you would like to relax and sort of slowly become accustomed to the night life again, so I sent the chauffer a list of places for us to go tonight."

Buffy cocked her eyebrow. "Really?" she asked skeptically.

"Yup. First eating dinner at a romantic Italian restaurant, then a movie, next stop would be for ice cream, and then finally back to the hotel to enjoy the rest of the night as we see fit."

Buffy gave him a big grin. "I now know why I keep you around." Angel looked at her in anticipation to the point Buffy had to stifle the fit of laughter traveling up her chest towards her mouth. "You always treat me like a queen."

He glared at her. "Is that what you think of me? That you keep me here? I would really like to disagree with that."

Buffy gave him a little bit of a hard time. "Is that so? "she asked, sarcasm thick in her tone.

Angel pretended to be all threatened. "Babe, if you wanted me around, you're in it for the long haul. Besides there is no way of getting rid of me this time."

Buffy gave in a burst into a fit of laughter. "That's true too." She pulled the love of her life into a firm hug. "Thank you," she whispered. After a couple of minutes just snuggling into one another, Buffy pulled away, a glint of lust sparkling in her eyes. "So, does the night just _end _at the Hyperion?"

"Hmmm… sort of, at least in the way I hope it'll play out. I mean sure the end will be at the Hyperion, but it might not be during the night time."

Angel pulled her closer to him. "Oh!" she shrieked. "The night will be a fun one, then." She pulled his face down to her own and drew him in for a passionate kiss to which he responded to her needs with great urgency. She placed her hands by the belt of his pants and started to untuck the shirt from beneath its captor.

Angel broke their kiss. "Dear, save some for tonight."

She gave him her infamous puppy dog pout and whispered, "You know it takes a **lot** more than a heated kiss to satisfy my hunger."

Angel grinned. "Well you're in luck then because not only will our kiss settle your hunger. But we're at the restaurant, so soon enough your tank will be full for the night ahead of us."

Buffy looked out the window. They were outside Campanile. From what Buffy could recall, it was one of, if not, the best Italian restaurants in town. "Oh my, Angel," she evenly stated, the surprise evident on her face. She turned towards Angel. "How can we afford this? We didn't bring that much money with us."

Angel easily replied, "No need to worry. Two things on our side: since we are working on the school buildings with the construction teams, Ty is making sure we are put onto the payroll. The other I've never really told you about. I do have some of my own money, I just prefer not to use it a lot."

"Why?"

Angel took in a breath. "Because it's money I've collected over the years as Angelus. You may not think it, but Angelus received many odd jobs and assassination jobs that involved payment. During those days, money wasn't an important necessity, especially when you consider the nature of vampires. It was unintentionally saved up and now over a century in different bank accounts that collected interest, here we are."

"You've never used it?" Buffy asked skeptically.

"Only to rent out and buy the buildings I lived in. Not usually for my friends benefit, however."

"You do know that it could have been useful in buying a new slayer compound and the other essentials we need?" He nodded in response. Buffy understood in her mind why he refused to offer it up, especially on her behalf. It was blood money that he earned by targeting an enemy for someone a killing them. Using any reward for those past behaviors would make any sane person guilty for their actions.

Buffy resurfaced her thoughts again in time to realize his mind was slipping back into past deeds and other brooding thoughts. "Hey," she demanded, placing a hand firmly against his cheek, "don't go back again. Stay with me." She gazed into his deep chocolate brown orbs.

Angel moved his face away so she couldn't. He couldn't look at her. "I can't help it sometimes. I start thinking and then a memory resurfaces. A memory of bloodlust, of the numerous murders and of the different torments I caused."

Buffy rolled her eyes. "Do we always have to go through this?" she sounded frustrated. She used very little strength at the tips of her fingers to pull his chin towards her, forcing him to gaze at her. She barely brushed her lips against his own in a feather light kiss. "You aren't at any fault for any of the things Angelus once did. You are not Angelus and it was not you then when all those nasty events took place. You have a soul, a life, me and my heart. If you were Angelus, none of that would be in your realm to grasp. Yes, you and Angelus shared the same body, but you are two completely different men, like Jekyll and Hyde. That makes all the difference." She momentarily paused. "I love you, Angel, and that's all that matter. So what you possess blood money. Use it when you need to, but it doesn't matter. Us being together is the most important thing to think about." After she was finished with her spiel, Angel kissed her softly. When they broke apart, the pulled each other into a hug.

Buffy's head rested against Angel, when his eyes flashed open in realization. "Why hasn't the driver come yet?" Buffy pulled herself up and looked out at him. She turned for the door to open it but she saw a couple of men outside it sealing it closed. Then she saw a body fly into their rear window blood covering the glass. She turned to Angel when he muttered, "Vampires." The only word he could say.

Buffy stood up to the roof visor and broke it open. She lifted herself onto the limo's roof looking on at the vampire sucking from their chauffer's neck. Buffy walked over to the vampire and kicked her toes into the vampires face. The vampire flew backwards, while the chauffer fainted and fell to the pavement. "I try to have one calm, relaxing evening in a new town and then I stop at a restaurant to get a meal in and guess what I see. A creature of the night taking my driver for dinner while he's on the clock. Very unacceptable behavior. Think I should fire him or kill you?" The vampire started at her. "What? Scared of a little blond girl?" she challenged using her best Arnold impression.

The vampire touched the spot on his face where a welt started to appear. "It can't be," he mumbled to himself, "They're all supposed to be out of the country."

"Oh, but on the contrary, there are many springing up in America all the time. Also, I'm Buffy Summers, and I'm here to kick your ass."

The vampire made an attempt to run away, but Buffy caught up to him faster than expected. She tackled him and sprung up to her feet. It was lucky that he lead her into and alley. She kicked him in the ribs he hit a garbage dumpster. When he stood up Buffy was there to throw some punches. His neck landed on the lip of the dumpster and with a booming crack that resounded around the alley, Buffy was satisfied with his condition when he was floored unable to move. She lifted him onto the lip again and created a guillotine by slamming the sharp metal lid down on his neck, turning him to dust.

"Ashes to ashes and dust to dust," Buffy softly muttered. She turned around to find five snarling and bumpy faces behind her. "Just wonderful," she dismissively rolled her eyes.

"So it is true. One of the slayers is located in Los Angeles."

Buffy placed her hands on her hips with confidence. "Not just one. THE slayer as a matter of fact."

The one Buffy assumed to be the leader stared into her eyes as if he could place her into submission. "The Sunnydale girl," he smirked. "You are quite the competitor and extremely strong according the community."

"Wow, they got something right for a change." She said it with mock surprise.

The vampire looked at her again. "Charge her!" he exclaimed. Buffy ducked the first couple of punches. Then, she blocked one vampire and flipped him into two more. She won his sword and started blocking blows again. A sword was about to swipe her legs, but she flipped up and backwards missing the attack and then kicking two of the vampires with sword back. She gracefully landed on her feet and then swung her sword around in a round house attack, catching three of the vamps through the neck. All that was left was the leader and one of his flunkies.

Buffy decided that she should practice some of her newly possessed magic. "Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, a sharp piece of wood is a serious must." She grasped the formed piece of wood behind her back so the vampires got a surprise. The vampire flunky tried to kick her, but she dodged it, catching its oncoming fist flying towards her face. She pulled up her new wooden weapon and pierced it through the flunky's chest. He was dust. She felt the leader watching her, observing her style and her moves. She slowly turned around, a scornful gaze taking up residence in her eyes. The vampire attempted to run, but cleared the distance between them with one flip. She grabbed the back of his collar and threw him into the wall. "Bind," she stated. The vampire's hands and feet were held to the wall by invisible ropes. "Alright, start talking. Give me answers and you just might live."

The vampire smirked. "And if I don't you'll what, kill me? Not much of a deal if you ask me."

"If you don't, let's just say, you might not have limbs before you die." He just stared at her with complete disgust in his complexion. "You obviously knew there was a slayer in town. Who sent you?"

He laughed. "Why would I tell you that?"

"This is why," Buffy responded with a coy smile playing up her lips. She spoke a quick spell under her breath and pulled out holy water and a cross from her pockets. She opened up his shirt to reveal the pale white skin of his bare chest and let a couple of drops of the purest water fall upon his chest. The vampire squealed in agony. "You wanna try that again?"

"He didn't give me his name. Although, he did tell me there was a slayer in the Los Angeles area."

She instantly saw the lie in his statement. She pretended to accidentally drop the cross on his chest. "Oops-y." The vampiure screamed in horror. Buffy waited about ten seconds before pulling the cross off. "Now, you probably could have pulled off that lie on someone else, but me, never going to happen." She decided to trickle some of the water on his face, causing him to scream some more. "Listen bub, I'm not going to get tired of this fast, so the sooner you talk, the quicker and less pain this would be." She heard the footsteps coming from behind her. There was Angel.

The vampire didn't notice Angel. "His name is Christoph." Angel just looked between the vampire and the slayer's interactions. The vampire felt his gaze. "Hey pal, this girl is torturing me. Can you help a friend out?"

Angel nodded. "Sure thing." Angel walked towards the pair. Buffy caught Angel pushing a button. Out a popped a stake and he stabbed it into the vampire's heart and the vamp turned to dust. "I guess he didn't realize we were friends, huh?"

Buffy gave him a wide grin and hugged him. "My hero," pretended to faint. "How can I ever repay you." Drama filled her expression.

"Join me in a fun evening of food, music, drama, and most importantly, a bed."

"Mmm…" Buffy moaned, "Don't get me wrong. I love, I mean _love_ the sound of that, but we need to make a call to Giles first. Seems that we have a new playerin town, as I think you heard." Angel's forehead creased. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, it's just… The strange part is that I recognize that name, but Christoph has never been a huge name in the vampire world. He tends to stay in the dark until he feels threatened."

"Then of course a slayer in L.A. is going to be a serious threat, especially now they are in the thousands. I guess that means time for some major work."

"Well, you've got that right, but we can have one night of fun, afterall the next two weeks are going to be extremely hectic. Working on the site and they want to record the 'family' part done tomorrow." He kissed her on the forehead. "We better go and get that meal in before the movie begins."

"Sounds wonderful," Buffy sighed. She kissed him and then they walked out, Buffy wrapping her arms and hugging his arm tightly to her. The cross and the rest of the holy water was left behind in the alley as they disappeared around the corner of the alley.

Willow was helping Giles and Xander pack up their library area. Her supplies for the craft were already packed away before Buffy and Angel left for L.A. and easy to grab if needed. "Giles, where did you get half these books? I don't even remember most of these volumes being in Sunnydale or in the school library," Willow questioned. She was getting tired of organizing, what she thought was, over a million books.

"W-well they came from the remaining watchers that survived and whatever could be saved from the collection after the watcher's council exploded. Also, I had my own personal collection that _no one_ in Sunnydale ever laid eyes on.."

Willow curtly nodded. A ton of books between three sources, but whatever. "You know most of these demons have some pur-rity gross habits," Xander commented.

"I'm afraid to ask," Willow paused as Xander looked at her expetantly. "Like what?" Xander handed her the book. She looked through the pages until one picture in particular caught her attention. "What is that demon sticking into that girl's ear?" She read the Latin description "Oh!" she squealed in shock. "Oh," she stated disgusted, scrunching her nose up after realizing the truth. "Please tell me people don't willingly do this."

Xander chimed in. "That is any girl who didn't know it was a demon or Andrew." Willow slapped him. "What?" he asked her with confusion.

"Enough," Giles stated sternly. He was tired of listening to these kids carrying on about their sexual thought. "Let's do what we have to do and be done with it."

"Sorry, Giles," Willow apologized. She continued packing away the books when the phone started to ring. "I'll get it," she declared. She picked up the phone on the third ring. "Hello?"

"Hey, Will," said the voice over the phone.

"Buffy. What's going on, is something wrong?" Willow could hear the concern in her best friend's voice.

"Nothing major, just need you guys to start going into research mode again."

Willow motioned for Giles and Xander to supply her a pen and some paper. "Alright, throw the info at me."

"Okay, we ran into minions of a vampire named Christoph. Apparently he's studying me. Anyway, according to Angel, he is generally peaceful except for when he feeds, but when he's after someone, he apparently sits back until they come to him. How old is he, who he has killed, and any other important information you can dig up.

Willow received her pen and paper halfway through Buffy's conversation. She finished Buffy's questions. "I got it." She handed the piece of paper to Giles. "So, how is the work on the buildings?"

"It's good. Lots of rooms and such. Sorry to cut the convo short, Will, but I'm at an ice cream parlor with Angel right now."

"Ah, honey alone time. Got it. Enjoy your night!"

"Thanks, Will. Bye." Willow heard the line go dead. She smiled to herself.

Xander looked at her disgusted. "I really didn't want to know that much."

"Oh, Xander get over it. They should spend some time together. Now, let's get researching," Willow said, her voice faultering.


	6. End of the Night

**A/N: I'm going to keep updating as fast as I can. *WARNING:* This chapter has some suggestive writing towards the end, so if that makes you a little wary, you don't need to read the last few paragraphs. R & R and please give me input!**

**Chapter 6**

Buffy walked towards the window. She used the payphone in the parking lot to call Willow. Angel and Buffy found an ice cream parlor where they could take their ice cream to go. Angel had ordered their ice cream while Buffy had called their group in Italy. She walked to Angel's side to find him holding two cones. He handed her one and she took one lick, her spirit flying up to the heavens and back again to her own body. "Oh my God! Cookie Dough Fudge Mint Chip! This is my favorite!" She took another lick, while realizing that she never asked Angel to get her this flavor.

"I know. I'm never going to forget that day. I still can't believe you knew about it for so many years and didn't ever tell me."

She stared at her feet. He led her to a bench so they could sit down. It was almost eleven, so the couple assumed they should stay out a while longer to do some patrolling. "When I got my memory back, I was really confused and I didn't know if I was just dreaming. I tried to deny the truth, but I couldn't trick my heart into thinking my brain was losing itself a little. My heart knew the events actually did take place during that visit after Thanksgiving. It was such a surreal moment that I was in disbelief that I could have forgotten such a beautiful and important day in my life." She looked into Angel's blank face. "I felt like you neglected me. Like you regretted that day and that you didn't want me anymore. The next moment, I was _extremely_ pissed off. I mean, how could you make that decision without my input or hearing out your thought process." She felt all the former anger wriggling throughout her body, so she paused to calm herself down. "I had planned on confronting you about it the next time I saw you and being very bitchy at the same time, but the next time I saw you was at Mom's funeral. I was numb and frightened and vulnerable and it was for those reasons alone that I couldn't blow up at you. It was while you talked to me and was comforting me over my loss that I realized that you had no choice, but to change the day, but I still felt like you didn't care about my feelings at all. That is until you kissed me. I knew you didn't want to leave my side. Not then, not now, not ever, but you had responsibilities to the innocents that you could not abandon. I understood you and I was okay to keep my secret from you."

"So it went something like this," Angel said in a seductive whisper. He pulled her into a sweet kiss.

She licked her lips after the kiss. "Mmm, chocolate on your lips," she explained. "So, I'm just confused on one thing."

"What might that be?"

Buffy wore a confused frown. "Why did you change the day?"

He paused and then took a breath. "I didn't know what to do. When the Oracles said that you would die because I couldn't help, I felt horribly guilty. Even if we could be together, it would only be a short time. Until the End of Days, not the forever like we both promised. I couldn't bear to lose you again and who knows how short our time together would be."

"That's kind of sweet. I appreciate it. Although, I still died within a short time frame after that, but that definitely wasn't the End of Days. Also, I came back."

"You're not that easy to keep down for the count."

"Of course, you would know best." She moved in to kiss him when she felt a cool, sticky liquid drip onto her hands."Whoops! Look like I forgot about my ice cream." She quickly licked up the liquid in the cone, but some more dripped onto her hand. "Oh man, you can dress me up, but you can't take me out," she joked.

Angel laughed. "Maybe this will be more to your liking." He grabbed her hand and lightly licked the ice cream off her hands.

She laughed. "That actually feels kind of weird. You know you are the only one who can get away with such an action."

"I do. It's because you love me."

"Sure it is," Buffy laughed off in sarcasm. They started to kiss which quickly started to turn into a makeout session. Buffy broke away to breathe. "Maybe we should take this party home before this transform into a serious PDA."

"A what?"

"A public display of affection, but maybe we need to worry more about public indecency."

"Why not? I would love to proclaim to the world my love for you."

"My God, Angel. Ever since you achieved your Shanshu, you've been acting like a teenager again."

"No, you wouldn't want me to be like a teenager again. Could be that I'm just happy to be human again."

"I know, but we will not be a perverse couple. I am not one to flaunt what I've got around for everyone to see." He gave her a skeptical look. "What?" She looked herself over. When she crossed her legs, she noticed the skirt she was wearing drifted above her mid thigh and accentuated her rear end. She also realized that the top button of her shirt was ripped off during her last fight, so more cleavage showed than usual.

Angel basically read her thoughts and then held her hand. "As long as it's only for me, we're cool."

She wore a grin. "You've got a deal there. Now, let's go home and enjoy the evening."

"You don't want to patrol more tonight?"

"No. I think we got all the slaying in we're going to see tonight. Besides, I don't sense any vamps around the area."

"Okay, we'll head out and if we see anything on the way home, then we'll stop it."

"Guess you looked right through me. That was my plan. I can only assume that means we're walking."

"Yes it does. Plus after the attack against our chauffer, we had no driver for the limo."

Buffy trudged herself onto her feet. Angel then wrapped his arm around her waist to keep her close to him on the way home. Together the couple walked to the Hyperion, both thinking blissful thoughts. It was going to be a good night. Buffy could even picture the activities ahead of them, when she heard the dreaded scream. She pulled away from her lover's arms. "Duty calls," she saluted and then began running towards the screaming.

Christoph was standing on a building just over the point where the attack was taking place. He had to see for his own eyes the grace behind the slayer's fighting. According to one of his lookouts, this girl was supposed to be the one from Sunnydale, Buffy Summers. This fight could be rather interesting to watch since this slayer has a very long history of enemies on her resume.

A girl runs into the alleyway he's watching. A petite blond girl who looked like she blow a fuse if her nail polish chipped or if her clothes got a speck of dust on them. _This can't be her_, Christoph thought to himself. He rolled his eyes, sure it wasn't the girl he was expecting.

She snuck over to the male and then pulled him away from the girl. "You know, it's not nice to kill a girl on the first date." The female quickly looked at the girl, vampire face showing its colors. "Unless she's already been killed, let's say, a couple of decades ago," the blond stated in disgust.

_Hmmm… a witty one…_

The blond girl threw the male vamp aside. Then the female went to attack, but the blond ducked it. The female tried an upper cut to the jaw, but the slayer dodged it, and then jabbed at the female's ribs. The vampire was bent over. The slayer then drop kicked the she-vamp's causing the vampire to go down face first.

The male was up and trying to sneak up behind the blond. The girl mockingly spoke to the female vamp. "Your clothes are a little too fifties, your face is much too wrinkly, and your vamp pal is a little too stupid." Just as the male touched her shoulder, the slayer grabbed his hand and twisted him around, pinning it up into his back causing a loud snapping sound to ring in Christoph's ears. "Are you done yet?" She sensed the female coming, so she flipped over the male, twisting his arm in a semi circle. She felt a pop in his shoulder while simultaneously using his body to kick the she-vamp. "Angel, a stake would be good right about now," yelled the slayer.

Christoph was impressed by the slayer's fighting style and ability. _A slayer who doesn't carry a stake? Daring, but who is this Angel she speaks of?_ Next thing he knew, a stake flew through the air and hit the vampire she had in the heart. The males dust blew in the wind, while Buffy picked up the stake to finish off the female.

The slayer lightly dusted herself off. "Thanks for the timeliness."

"Sorry, I didn't know if you needed one," said a dark man in the alley entrance.

The blond slayer sighed and rolled her eyes. "Alright, I'll forgive you this time." She walked over and wrapped her arms around the man, then pulled him down to her face to kiss him.

_This slayer is in love? Definitely something to keep in mind._ Christoph slowly faded into the darkness behind him.

Together, Buffy and Angel just collapsed onto the bed panting erratically, trying to catch their breaths, only a sheet covering their naked bodies. A sheer sweat barely broke over their bodies as they finally relaxed into each other's embrace. "So, how was it?" Angel asked.

Buffy glared at him. "I told you, we're not rating sex anymore. Obviously, it was and it is good or else we would be doing this." She softened her voice a little though. "If you do want to know though, it seems to be getting better every time we're together, like we're two puzzle pieces finally finding the right match." During her ramble, Angel's grin kept growing wider until her burst out into laughter at her last comment. "What?" she asked, wearing a goofy grin. Then her face turned red with embarrassment as she understood. "You weren't talking about that, were you?"

"No, but I want to applaud you on including a poetic simile while you were rambling."

"Why did you let me keep rambling like that?" she yelled.

"I'm sorry. I went to interrupt you, but when I heard what you said, I had to let you keep going."

"You just allowed me to sound like an idiot," she added, playfully smacking him in the chest.

"No I didn't. You're right, we seem to be fitting together better than we ever have. I hold you and it's like I'm hold another part of me. I hold you and it just… feels so right."

"Thanks," she whispered quietly, lightly grabbing his lips in a quick kiss. "I really needed to hear that." She paused to look into his beautiful brown eyes and momentarily got lost there for a minute when she remembered the task at hand, then shook off the lost feelings. "So, what did you mean to ask?"

"I meant to ask how the fight went. Were there any clues to Christoph?"

"I wanted to mention that when we got back, but obviously, we never got there, but I think he set it up."

"What makes you say that?"

"When I got to the alleyway, I found out there were two vampires there instead a girl getting the blood sucked from her by a vamp. I doubt that was accidental. Also, after they were dusted, I felt a vampire in the area. It was like in the immediate area, but if it was Christoph or one of his minions, I didn't want to raise suspicions."

Angel felt an angry ping in his chest. "Why didn't you say anything before?"

"Look, if they were there spying, I didn't want them to know, so I was going to tell you as soon as got back to the hotel. However, I was unable to do so because someone grabbed my lips with their own and wouldn't let me stop to tell them anything. Besides, you really had me turned on to the point where I couldn't wait anymore. I would have told you, but I was unable to."

"Buffy…" he said disappointed.

"Don't lecture me, Angel. I'm sorry I didn't tell you right away, but that would be what Christoph wants is to get answer about me, seek insights on my abilities. I'm just trying to keep us safe. You've gotta understand this Angel," she pleaded.

She looked at him with a hopeful stare. "Buffy, I love your dedication to us, but the next you have important information and we're together, fight to get it out." He smiled at her.

She repeated his response and then hugged him. "I love you," she declared for probably the millionth time.

"I love you too," he said, pulling her closer to him and kissing the top of her head.

She turned her face towards him and pulled his lips into a passionate kiss. As they kissed, she felt his member growing by her leg. "You want to go another round?" she asked coyly.

"I was thinking we try another room. Christen the whole hotel."

"You think you have the stamina to make love to a slayer in _all_ those rooms?" she challenged him.

"I'm up for it. You want to try?" She shook her head in amusement and then pulled him down to kiss him again.


	7. Fixing old wounds

**A/N: I'm sorry it's been over 6 months since I last posted a chapter. My life has been hectic and I'm in the middle of my senior year. As of right now, I'm in a play and our first show is tonight. Since, I had a day off of school today, I decided to take some initiative and write in order to relax today. It ****might be a li****ttle boring, but there is some action and you see more in depth to the villain's plan. So please enjoy and of course, REVIEW! My number 1 thing I always beg! **

**Chapter 7**

The first few days of building the former law firm went by fairly smooth. It was about halfway complete by Day 3. Buffy was shocked that the building was this close after only 2 days of actual construction. The only thing that worried her was the weather report declaring that rain would be arriving within the next couple of days. The roof was not complete yet because they were building the extra floors.

Angel had been watching for any sign of Christoph, but he hadn't shown up. Buffy was helping Ty during the day, and then during the night, Buffy would go out on patrol and Ty would follow her to regain the idea of patrol again.

On Day 3 during the night, Buffy and Angel went out on patrol and Ty was following behind them. They were all in a chatty mood. "So, what do think of patrolling with a real slayer?" asked Buffy.

"It's actually different compared to humans ganging up to kill a couple of vampires," Ty stated.

"Why? Because I hunt them instead of accidently running into them."

Ty grinned. "You could say that's part of it I guess. I never purposefully went looking for vampires unless I was bored, but for _you _it's a nightly thing to patrol for them. That's different and cool. The other part of it is, I guess you could say, as a human with the knowledge of vampires, you can have this very unnerving feeling that, 'Tonight, I'm going to die.' With a slayer, that instinctual feeling to run is there, but it is lessened. Do you understand?"

"I guess." Buffy thought back to her own experience without her slayer enhancements. "When I lost my powers, I was at a complete loss about life. I wasn't sure if I could deal with not being the slayer anymore. I always dreamed about having a normal life, but I guess being the slayer had to be part of it. I guess fighting the good fight would always be within yourself after being the slayer for three years. However, fighting without powers was frightening. I couldn't even fend off a fruit fly. It was most definitely scary not having a slayer around."

"The day I became human the first time comes to mind," Angel butted in.

"First time?" asked Ty.

"One story you haven't heard," Buffy noted. She arched an eyebrow, then signaled Angel to continue his story.

Angel started to retell his story. "It was a few years ago when I first moved to LA. I started a detective agency and everything was pretty good. Then, around Thanksgiving, my friend Doyle had a vision. You see, he was sent messages from the Powers That Be to tell me who the people were that needed to be saved."

Buffy decided to take over from here. "Apparently I was the next one on the PTB's list to be saved."

"PTB?" Ty was confused.

"Powers That Be," Buffy spoke quickly in an even tone.

"I really need to catch up on abbreviations." Ty shook his head. "Sorry Angel. Continue."

"There's not much to tell really. I visited Buffy without her knowledge, which went against everything I had done to try to separate myself from her. To prevent any heart break from either party, I just skulked around Sunnydale doing what I could to assist her. Buffy's friends were the only ones who knew I was there. I had gone the whole trip without detection." A smile touched the corners of Angel's mouth. "It was after I left that Xander spilled the beans."

Buffy decided it was time for her point of view. She snuggled in next Angel, forgetting Ty was there for a moment. "I was furious with you when I first found out. I felt… betrayed. I remember thinking to myself, 'Why would he be here and not tell me? Does he really consider me that unimportant in his plans?' So I was on the next bus to LA within the hour to him and give him a piece of my mind. My intentions were, 'How dare he protect me like I'm some damsel in distress. I'm the slayer after all, not some eleven year old school girl.' I told him off," Buffy declared proudly.

Angel snickered, "Yeah right." He turned his head to face her. "Told me _off_. She tried, but she could never do that to me." Buffy was about to intervene, but Angel cut her off. "Either way, there was no chance to get into physical blows because we were attacked by that Mohra demon."

"Right. We defended ourselves and then split up to find it. Angel found the demon first and fought it. Apparently Angel absorbed some of the demon's blood through a wound. It had to have been coursing through his veins because the next thing you knew he was human."

"Human," Ty spoke astounded.

"I checked this fact out with the Oracles and they confirmed it to be true. So Buffy and I," Angel paused. He couldn't help the need to brag about his and Buffy's success. He told the story with the excitement he remembered feeling that day he found out he could have Buffy again without consequence, "decided to test our relationship again. Unfortunately by the end of the day, we realized that me being human was going to be impossible if she were going to continue saving the world."

Buffy was fired up again. "Nuh-uh! That was _your_ decision. I didn't care if you were still fighting; I just wanted to be with you. I didn't want to lose you, but Mr. Noble here did the exact thing he does best; be noble."

He shook his head. "I had the oracles turn back the day because I didn't want to be the reason you died because I couldn't do anything to save you. There was no other choice." Angel hugged her in order to comfort her now that she started to see the relief on her face.

Buffy took a shallow breath. "The clock tolled nine and everything was returned to normal, except I wasn't supposed to be able to remember anything from the missing day while Angel had to be stuck with it for the rest of his days…" Buffy paused, "Or so he thought."

Ty asked, "Okay, so how do you remember it?"

Buffy flashed back into reality remembering Ty was still there. Angel had his arm around her waist now. "Later that year, the Oracles were killed, so I guess their 'turning the clock' trick undid itself which then returned the memories to me. Angel had no idea. After all he was told that he would solely carry the burden of remembering that day and he told his co-workers. That should have been it. At first I thought I was dreaming, but why of Angel? At the time I had a steady boyfriend who I really liked. After the dream, the next time I saw Angel, I had this feeling in my gut. It was almost like everything really did happen; that it wasn't a dream. I was going to bring up the dreams when I saw Angel, but it never came out with the fact the next time we talked to each other in person was at my mom's funeral. I decided not to mention it in case he thought I was insane or majorly depressed from losing Mom. No big, I just didn't touch the subject." She turned to face Angel. "It wasn't until later I learned her knew about the day the whole time."

"Well, I assumed you didn't know. It's not like I could tell you," defended Angel.

"I wasn't yelling at you, I was just saying-" Buffy was interrupted by a gagging sound. She turned towards the other end of the alley.

"All this lovey-dovey bullshit is making me sick. I can't even surprise attack now."

Buffy saw a figure. It was tall, broad, and very masculine. The vampire stepped into the light casted from a street lamp. He was dressed in an all black ensemble, completely opposite to his almost transparent white skin and his platinum blond hair that put Spike to shame when saying his hair was "platinum." "Didn't anyone ever tell you it's rude to interrupt someone's conversation? And also whoever said black is the right look for the albino crowd would be completely disturbed if they ever laid eyes on you."

The vampire ran at her. She pushed Ty down and out of the way and then jumped up onto the closest fire escape. The vampire suddenly landed above her on the next level fire escape. He slid the ladder down towards her and then attempted a high kick for her head. She ducked to her knees and yanked the vampire by his calf. _Why does making fun of their outfits always lead to violence?_ Buffy thought. She shoved the vamp against the railing. Then, she kicked him off the fire escape from a handstand position. She flipped off the escape and landed gracefully to the ground. The vampire hit the ground like a skydiver without a parachute. She then performed a handspring and then somersaulted through midair, grabbing a stake from her pocket. She landed in a crouch and staked the vampire in the heart. "Dusted," she said as the vampire disappeared in the breeze.

Angel lifted Buffy up by her arms. He looked into her face and asked, "Are you okay?"

She touched the side of his face and lovingly looked into his eyes. "I'm fine, not even a scratch." She brought her hand down and noticed blood on the side of his face. She looked at her palm and saw a gash running up her palm. "Sorry, I didn't even feel that. I didn't get any glass on your face, did I?"

She was trying to examine it for scratches, but he grabbed her wrists. "I'm fine, but we should get you to a hospital. There still might be some glass in your hand and it would be bad if it healed over."

Ty had taken his shirt off and threw his jacket on over his bare chest. "Here," he offered the shirt, "use this to control the bleeding until we're there."

"Thanks," Buffy said dully. "Does this _really _require a hospital visit?"

Angel answered, "It does unless you want the glass stuck in your skin and then break through when you least expect it."

She gave an angered expression, but she gave in. She knew Angel would never let her get away without going to the hospital. He said he would never force her, but this is a case when the rule wouldn't apply. "Fine," she huffed and stomped away towards the hospital.

Angel and Ty looked at each other as they started to leave the alley. "What was that about?" Ty asked.

Angel smiled to himself. "She just doesn't like hospitals."

As both men turned the corner, Christoph walked into the alley where the broken glass bottle Buffy sliced her hand on remained. He picked up a piece with her blood on it and took a sniff. He was shocked by the power that went through his system with only one smell.

"Master," interrupted one of his minions.

"What is it now," Christoph responded grumpily. He never liked having to stop mid-thought in order to listen to his minions.

"Christoph, sir, the slayer is still in close proximity to us. She may try to attack. You must come back-"

"I am well aware about the slayer and where she is. Believe me, she's not going to find us at this moment."

"As you say, Master."

Christoph sneered. He always heard that slayer blood was powerful and the taste of it… there was no description, it was _that_ good. He put the bloody side of the glass to his tongue. He felt another shock as he felt a tingling sensation of power up his spine. She had to be part of his crew. He wouldn't accept this any other way. She had to be his, but how… "I've got it," he whispered with a grin. He snuck back into the portal to his home. The underworld was never really friendly, but a good place for a low profile vampire. He was the only vampire in history to be allowed to live in the underworld.

He walked to his main room where his minions stayed. The table in the middle was set up for his convenience. He quickly glanced over the faces of his minions. He took up the front of the table and spoke, "Friday evening, we are taking action. Miss Buffy Summers will be one of us, beside me forever more."


	8. Ultimatum

**A/N: I'm trying to make up my long absence from my writing to you guys by typing again today. This chapter is about Buffy figuring out what Christoph really wants from her and also Christoph finally introduces himself to her, offering an ultimatum. You'll see. Please R&R! I hope you like the next chapter!**

**Chapter 8**

Willow had been sending Buffy the stuff being moved via teleportation. Buffy was hoping she had found some time to research the current problem. She needed some information about Christoph and fast. She had been feeling his presence everywhere, but never found a single trace of him.

It was Friday, party night, the final touches complete and the slayers could now officially move into Wolfram & Hart. Unfortunately, work on the Hyperion just began, so there would be no luck in that being finished soon. Buffy and Angel were helping as much as they could, but patrolling was making it harder with the threat of Christoph around them. Finally, Willow called with some news that evening.

"Hey, sorry about the wait! Everything is hectic over here," the witch explained.

"It's okay, I understand. So what's the story?" Buffy's curiosity grew over the last couple of days.

"Well, Christoph died in 1345 from the plague, or so people thought. In actuality, it was a vampire attacker, but anyways, he was from Russia. Christoph's background is pretty blank, but there is a legend that states, 'he accepted he was a vampire and two days after he was reborn, he killed his sire and her minions became his own. He has never been found killing, but there were many murders that other vampires believe was him.' There was never any proof to suggest either side true. Other than that, there is nothing really known for certain about his hunting style or his victim profiles."

"Nothing? Are you sure?"

"There are numerous speculations, but none found to be a concrete fact."

"What are the most common specs, Will? They might lead me to something."

"Okay, ummmm….." Buffy could hear Willow shuffling through papers in the background. "The most universal idea is that he looks for pretty women who could bring him a great deal of power."

Buffy snorted sarcastically, "Descriptive much."

"True, but none of these records suggest him being connected to the death of a slayer."

Buffy sighed, rubbing her temple, "What is it with this guy? He makes no sense."

Willow continued. "There is some subplot to that original theory. Some researchers say he looks for a pretty woman with great power that he could drain to increase his own power. He may be looking for a queen to take for his own."

"One of those? _GREAT!_" _He's never tried to attack a slayer before… _Buffy thought.

"Uh- Buffy, don't you know what this could mean? He wants you next!"

"I know, WILL!" She was just thinking the same thing. "I'm going to watch out for this guy. He is not coming near us."

"Buffy, you can't go out patrolling. You have to save yourself!"

"And let other die because I'm not doing my job. Will, you know I can't accept that. I did that once, I'm not making that mistake again! I HAVE to be out there."

"Should I send a couple of slayers out to LA?"

"NO, WILL!" Buffy exclaimed. She took a breath before she said softly, "Angel and I will be okay, honest."

"You won't, Will. I won't allow anything to happen to me. I'll be fine," Buffy declared.

"If you say so," Willow said unsure.

Buffy smiled. She appreciated Willow's concern, but she would be fine, after all, she was the slayer. "It will be fine, promise!" Buffy paused, "I'm sorry, but I should get going. Angel and I are helping out with building the Hyperion tonight."

"That's okay. We should be ready to leave soon."

"When are you guys shipping out?"

"Giles is shipping Xander, Dawn, and me with a bunch of slayers first. We should be there by Monday, although we are trying to get a flight by Sunday."

"So SOON!" Buffy exclaimed. She wasn't ready to lose her alone time Angel so quickly. "Wow, that was quicker than I imagined."

"Yeah! You should probably get to work. The hotel should be complete enough to room over a hundred girls."

"Alright. I'll talk to you later. Bye!"

"Bye," Willow said hanging up.

Buffy hung up her phone. She turned to see Angel was already asleep. She walked over to their bed and laid down next to him. Placing her arms around his neck, she brought her face up to his and placed a kiss on his lips. Buffy started to pull away, but Angel used his powerful arms to pull her down closer to him. The kiss very quickly went from sweet to passionate. It sickened her, but Buffy pulled away first. She smiled, "Hey there, sleepyhead."

"Mmmm…." Angel yawned. "What time is it?"

"It's eight o'clock, which means times to get to work."

Angel groaned, "Do we have to?"

Buffy giggled. "As much as I'd love to do this the rest of the night," she kissed him again, "we really need to get to work. The first group is coming on Sunday or Monday."

"Already?" Buffy just nodded. "Okay then, I'm getting up." Buffy let go of him and got off the bed. Angel started to rise. As soon as he was on his feet, he felt his body waver. Some force gently pushed him back onto the bed in a sitting position. He grunted in response.

Buffy turned quickly. "Angel?" She noticed he seemed a little weakened and breathing a little hard. She rushed over to his side and kneeled before him. "What happened?"

"I-I don't know. I was standing and my body felt weak. I guess my legs gave out, like they didn't want me to get up." He looked up at her concerned.

She put a hand to his cheek to make sure his temperature was normal. "Maybe we shouldn't go today if you don't feel well. I guess the hard work could be wearing your body down."

Any extra muscle would be useful. They could use your help to work on the building." He paused to look at her. "Go on, I can take care of myself."

"Are you sure?" Buffy asked, worry coloring her voice. "I mean, you were down in two seconds flat."

"I'm probably just over tired. Early days, late nights. I have to remember that I'm human now. The body can't take sleepless nights as well anymore." He grinned at her. "No worries, just get the Hyperion done for the others."

"I will," Buffy promised standing up. "Sleep tight." She helped him into bed. She then put the blanket on him and kissed the top of his head. "I love you," she whispered into his ear.

Buffy was carrying a two ton pole. She knew all the men were staring at her with shock, but whatever. It was easy for a slayer, but if she carried three of those poles, she knew she'd be in trouble.

She made it to the pile of poles and dropped the last one. "Good work, Buffy," she heard from her left. She turned to see Ty acknowledging her work. She nodded.

Buffy wasn't completely paying attention to her surroundings. Bad on a construction site, but she was concerned about Angel.

"Look out!" screamed a burly construction guy. Buffy woke up from her daze. She saw a pole falling and saw a guy, probably no more than twenty years old, underneath the landing zone.

Buffy screamed, "MOVE!" but he was a deer in headlights. Suddenly, the lights were out and Buffy felt a searing pain through her torso.

She didn't realize that she was subconsciously running until now. She managed to push the guy out of the way, but not in enough time for her to miss the impact of the pole. She opened her eyes to see Ty standing over her.

"Everyone move back and giver her room to breathe. Somebody call an-" Ty was yelling instructions.

"Not- necessary," Buffy huffed out. She used all her strength to lift the pole off her. She quickly slipped out from under it and let it fall. She let out the breath she held.

"There is no way you can be okay after that," Ty stated.

She smirked at him and then whispered, "Ty you know what I am and that I am the strongest one ever. This isn't the worst I've been through, _really_." She started to sit up and then noticed the strength she needed to get up was missing. "I-uh-I just need to sit down for a couple of minutes."

"Let me help you out," Ty insisted. He allowed her to brace herself on him. Ty helped her to the benches. "Are you sure you will be okay?"

"I don't think any of the internal injuries are that serious. I should be working again in fifteen to thirty minutes. I just need to sit and relax."

"Do you want me to get you anything? Conserving energy is good for healing I heard."

"I think I'm fine. Thank you."

Ty just nodded. "Okay, but you do have a visitor to see you."

"I do?" She then saw the man she had saved over Ty's shoulder. "Oh, hi."

"Hi- I mean- Hello Ms. Summers. I just wanted to say thank you for saving my life. I don't know how you did it, but I definitely didn't help your injury and I do apologize for that. I owe you my life." The man spoke fast, like he was afraid over even nervous to talk to her.

"You're welcome. Now, at the risk of some paparazzi is trying to catch a sneak peak at the show and caught that heroic act on camera, so they want to try to interviewing me, I don't want to sound stuck up by not knowing your name."

"My name is Jordan, Jordan Fryer."

"Hi, I'm Buffy-"

"Buffy Summers. Yeah, I'm helping to build your new home."

She smiled, but didn't dare laugh. She embarrassedly said, "Right. That's true."

"If you don't mind me asking, what made you crazy enough to want to move to LA?"

"What's so bad about LA that would make me _not_ want to live here? The evil celebs or all the handsome men flaunting around town," she suggested sarcastically.

"That's why you came here?"

"No, I have a boyfriend. I moved here because-uh- situation appeared in Rome causing us to move back here. La was my hometown up until my mid-teen years, and then my boyfriend lived her after high school, so it's sort of the perfect spot to live for us."

"That makes sense." He paused. "I need to get back to work, but if you need anything, don't be afraid to holler. Thank you again."

"You're welcome Jordan, and I will. Nice to meet you." He waved to her as he walked away.

It was only maybe a five or ten minute tops conversation, but Buffy already felt better. _Maybe I should get back to work,_ she thought. She started to get up from the bench.

When she got from to the door, she heard somebody yell, "Where are you, Buffy Summers?" She felt icy cold daggers drop in the pit of her stomach. She thought she recognized the voice, but she didn't know from where. Almost like she'd never met the person, but should know instinctively that his voice was from her new enemy.

She confidently strode through the doorway. "I'm right here. Who wants to know?"

"Ah, there you are my sweet girl." Buffy heard the voice from the landing above her. She went through a series of flips to reach the next flight. She landed and saw a figure about fifteen to twenty feet away from her.

The figure had dark brown hair and piercing green eyes. He definitely dressed more modern than

your average run of the mill vampire. He even wore colors other than black. _Either that's_

_Christoph or a perverted paparazzi member._ He wore jeans with an olive green dress shirt and a

beige leather jacket. These colors brought out the green of his eyes even more so. His hair was a

little long, but gelled into perfectly placed tufts of hair. He was very handsome for a vampire. _Concentrate Buffy! He wants you to get caught up in his looks._

"Okay, so you know who I am. Now who the hell are you?" asked Buffy.

"I think you already know."

"I would presume that means you are Christoph."

"At your service." Christoph did a little wave with his hand and gave a slight bow. "I am glad to finally meet you."

Buffy rolled her eyes. "You're kidding me right? You're supposed to be this almighty vampire, but you're actually some lame pansy ass who-"

Christoph cut her off. "Silence! What gives you the right to judge?"

"That right was given to me at birth when I see a pest with pointy teeth." She paused. "So, are we going to fight or are you going to bore me to death with endless chatter."

"Actually, I was planning on our first meeting being rather peaceful."

"And why on earth would I want to do that?"

"Because I possess the key to this game."

"And what might that be?" she asked through gritted teeth.

Christoph snapped his fingers. Then appeared a body hung up by its wrists. Buffy felt her heart sink. It was an all too familiar feeling. "The key to your heart, Ms. Summers." One of the minions guarding the body held up the head hanging forward.

Buffy eyes widened, stricken with fear as the face of her lover was revealed to her. "Angel. ANGEL!" she shouted. "What did you do to him you poor excuse of the damned?"

"Ms. Summers, or should I call you Buffy?" Buffy growled at him in response. "You are in need of a major growing up stage. Name calling is so childish."

"Let's try this again," she said each syllable clearly through gritted teeth. "What the hell did you do to him?"

"That's for me to know and you to find out." He paused. "Buffy, I know there is a lot of power behind that petite physique. I am asking you to become queen of the Underworld. With you by my side, no one would be able to destroy my legacy."

_The Underworld,_ Buffy thought. _Since when were vampire allowed to live within Hades place?_

"But there is a little something I need you to do before you become queen," Christoph said with a sneer.

Buffy gasped at the realization. "You need to change me before you can truly reign."

"Exactly," Christoph smiled. "Unfortunately, the pesky purity that is your slayer blood would make it impossible for us to be accepted as the Underworld's rulers."

"What makes you think I would ever agree to you killing me?"

"I thought you would be smarter than to ask that question, but isn't the answer obvious? I mean, come on, look at the situation at hand."

If only looks could kill, because Buffy was glaring daggers (or more likely stakes) towards Christoph. "If you touch one hair on him, one speck of anything on him, I will do so much more than murder you."

"I don't think you're in a position to be making petty threats."

"Oh yeah? Let's see what you think now." She rushed Christoph. She threw an upper cut kick towards his chest, but he dodged her attempt and then knocked her in the torso and she flew to the ground. Buffy landed into a crouch and performed a round house kick aimed at his legs in order to trip him up. Christoph jumped over her attempt effortlessly and the snapped his leg into her face causing her to fly through a wood wall and down to the next floor.

"You have a day to decide or else he's dead." The was the last thing she heard from the vampire. There was a pop and then no sounds at all. Buffy rolled onto her side to see that nobody was on the floor above her. "Angel," she whispered in a low grunt. She was almost breathless.

Before she knew it, Ty was at her side. "Hey, are you okay? Buffy, answer me."

"They took him," she barely spoke out.

"Took who?" he asked. "Whose they?"

"Angel," she felt her heart tearing inside her body as tears started to pool in her eyes. "Christoph took Angel." The tears started to fall down her cheeks. "Oh Angel!" Buffy just gave in and burst into tears. Ty tucked her face into his chest trying to comfort her. She was sobbing so hard, his shirt was soaked within minutes.

Ty picked Buffy up while she sobbed. "Hey, is she okay?" asked a feminine voice. It must have been Tracy.

"Yeah, I think it was the fall, that's all."

_Good save, _thought the teary eyed slayer.

"Alright, I'll hold down the fort while you take care of her," Tracy offered.

"Alright," Ty said. "I'll try to take only a couple of minutes." With that, Ty carried her up to her room.


End file.
